The FDA recently approved Pfizer to market Xalkori (crizotinib), targeted to
treat patients with late stage, non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who express mutations of the
anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene.[1]Concurrently, the FDA has also approved a companion
diagnostic test to help determine if the patient expresses the ALK gene mutation.This represents a rather new and exciting trend in
chemotherapy treatment as Xalkori is the 2nd targeted chemotherapy agent approved by the
FDA along with a test this year (Genentech Inc.’s Zelboraf™ used for late-stage melanoma
in patients with BRAF V600E mutation was approved along with a companion test in August 2011).

EML4-ALK is a genetic mutation representing the fusion of the echinoderm
microtubule-associatedprotein-like 4 (EML4) and ALK
genes.[2]It is
estimated that 2-7% of patients with NSCLC have EML4-ALK mutations, representing about 10,000
patients in the United States alone.[3]Patients
expressing EML4-ALK mutations are resistant to treatment with currently available growth factor
receptor inhibitors (ie. Tarceva®, erlotinib), however, it has been shown in clinical trials
that treatment with crizotinib (an ALK inhibitor) has improved response rates to nearly 60% of
patients, compared to ~10% of patients treated with second line chemotherapy.[2]

One of the challenges facing practitioners had been that no standard
FDA-approved test for detecting EML4-ALK mutations was available per the NCCN guidelines for
NSCLC.Now with the new FDA approval of the Vysis
ALK Break Apart FISH Probe kit as a companion test, providers will now have a gold-standard tool to
use in determining patient qualification for this new medication.

One of the issues that will certainly arise is the cost of targeted
therapies.It is estimated that treatment with Xalkori
will cost roughly $9600/month.[4]This is far out
of the financial reach of the vast majority of patients, although Pfizer is currently offering a
patient assistance program for uninsured or underinsured patients which may help a greater number of
patients have access to the drug.The high cost
associated with this new drug is not unique, either.The
previously mentioned Zelboraf comes with its own steep price tag of $56,400 for a 6-month course of
treatment.[5]Even considering
planned patient assistance programs, it is clear that these new, innovative genomic-based targeted
therapies will come at a significant cost, making accessibility to the general population limited at
best.While these therapies surely represent advances in
our understanding of the role of genomics in providing patient-specific therapy, only time will tell
if the benefits will outweigh the costs enough to continue advancing medicine in this
direction.